ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to take as an example the significant role played by the Manoel Foundation in the Order’s acquisition and use of property for capital gain. It discusses through some examples of houses owned by the Manoel Foundation aspects of architectural development and spatial transformations. The chapter focuses on the changes which turned Valletta’s buildings into more profitable urban properties. The recording of the assets of the Foundation was considered a decisive legal guarantee to secure a continued flow of revenue in the future. The Manoel Foundation’s records and its contractual deeds shed important light on its expectations regarding the spatial configurations and the volumes of the built structures. The urban transformation, including the occupation of vacant plots and re-embellishment of buildings together with the addition of balconies began to change the eighteenth-century scenographies of Valletta, as exhibited in the documentary heritage. Architects had to seek alternative solutions that catered to the social and economic perceptions of Baroque Valletta.
